


One Word Sentence

by YellowPencils



Series: For The Greater Good [2]
Category: Wentworth (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-26
Updated: 2019-04-26
Packaged: 2020-02-04 09:28:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18601750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowPencils/pseuds/YellowPencils
Summary: For the purposes of this, Joan was released from prison and Jake was convicted of killing Nils, and probably a load of other stuff as well. Joan is Governor again.





	One Word Sentence

Joan entered her office after another of her regular rounds, the last one of the day. As usual, everything was running smoothly, just like it had been ever since she had returned to the helm.

Not that Vera hadn't done a marvellous job of keeping the place going while she was temporarily indisposed. At the end of the day, it was still her who had provided the instructions, however.

As she started to make her way around her desk to start packing up for the day, Joan realised that Vera's clear plastic work bag had been thrown onto one of the chairs, yet the woman herself was nowhere to be seen.

The two women would meet in the office most nights to have a short debrief, which meant that they could hopefully leave the prison behind for the rest of the night in more ways than one.

Joan was assuming that Vera had been called out to attend something after reaching her office, until she heard a sound coming from behind the closed door to her private bathroom. Vera was, of course, the only person she was willing to share it with, and even that had initially been done begrudgingly.

When Vera hadn't emerged by the time Joan had packed her own bag and made sure everything was lined up neatly on her desk, something which she tended to hesitate over, the governor became worried.

Crossing to the bathroom door, Joan waited for a moment so she could ready herself, not wanting to disturb Vera if she was in a delicate situation.

Knocking lightly, Joan cleared her throat gently and spoke in a volume barely above a whisper.

"Um, Vera? It's me, Joan," in case there was even a chance of it being anyone else, "Is everything...okay in there?"

Again, she could detect a noise, but there was no reply.

"Vera?" she tried again, "I'm worried about you. Please. Just tell me you're okay."

This time, there was a distinct sound of a hastily-covered-up sob.

That was it.

"I'm coming in," Joan said firmly, more than willing to break the door down if she needed to.

Luckily, it was unlocked.

Less luckily, when she got through the door she found Vera curled up on the floor in the fetal position, facing the opposite direction. Her body shook as each sob was released.

"Vera!" Joan hurried to her and knelt down, barely even thinking about the cleanliness of it, "What's the matter? Did someone do something ? If any of those women have hurt you I swear I wil..."

"No," Vera sniffled, shaking her head as much as she was able, "It's not...that."

"Then what? You're really scaring me, Vera."

Vera began to sob again, so Joan tried to comfort her as much as she could, rubbing her upper arm several times before running her hand down the rest of her arm. When she reached the bottom, she realised that Vera was clutching something in her hand. She couldn't tell what it was, however, and Vera tried to prevent her from seeing it.

"You don't need to hide anything from me," Joan murmured soothingly as she tugged the item out of Vera's grasp, ignoring her final attempt to get it back.

"I'm sorry," Vera whispered, the tears still falling as she held her breath and braced herself for Joan's explosion.

Joan hadn't yet realised what she was holding, still too focussed on the tearful woman infront of her.

When she looked down at the item, it took her a few moments to process it, staring at the blue and white plastic in confusion before it dawned on her to turn it over.

_Pregnant._

For one of very few times in her life, Joan found herself caught completely off-guard and shocked straight into silence.

Long seconds passed as neither woman could find any words. Eventually, a loud sniff from Vera snapped Joan back into the present.

"I don't know what to say," she said, almost apologetically.

"That's okay. Neither do I," Vera replied quietly.

Another silence stretched out.

"We were always careful. _Every single time,_ " Vera whispered.

"I know."

"There's no way I'd have let him unless we were."

"I know."

"Please don't hate me, Joan," Vera took in a deep, wobbly breath as she prepared herself for Joan's response.

Joan shifted closer to Vera then managed to manoevre them both back, until she was sitting against the wall, her legs under Vera's head. As she talked, she stroked the younger woman's hair, slowly teasing her bun loose.

"I could never hate you, Vera. And I take full responsibility for...this. The whole thing was my idea."

"I agreed to it. And it worked. We're together. We're in charge. He's in prison."

"I suggested you use his clear attempts to get into your knickers to our advantage."

"I agreed."

"It's not too late for me to have a word in the right ear, you know."

"No more violence, Joan. I hate him, but I don't want you to kill him. You're better than that."

As Joan moved her hand onto Vera's stomach, the smile in her voice was clear.

"And now I have another reason to avoid getting locked up again."

Vera froze while she took the words in, then scrambled up onto her knees and crawled between Joan's legs, looking at her questioningly.

"But you hate Jake."

"So do you. But as you said, he's in prison. And likely will be for the rest of his life. He never has to know, and can't do anything even if he did."

"So you'll help me?"

Joan reached up to cradle Vera's face in her hands, holding her gaze until she was sure that the other woman would truly understand.

"Vera, I love you. I'm not going to leave you to raise this baby on your own."

"You're not?"

"Of course not," Joan kissed her gently, "We're it's parents."

 


End file.
